Fundraising 2010/Write An Appeal

Did you know that almost 900 people were involved in the creation and discussion of Fundraising banner messages?

The Fundraising team and a number of volunteers from the community have been conducting weekly banner tests for the past few months to test and find the message that best motivates donors. We tested dozens of iterations of banner designs, including both graphical and text, and will continue to do so. Many of the new banners did well.

Unfortunately, none of them came anywhere near the 3% clickthrough rate of the winning banner from years past:

“

Please read, a personal appeal from Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.

”

But we’re going to keep trying. Our research indicates that banner wins because it is simple and direct with no attempt at marketing or manipulation.

So we’re going to test:

“

A personal appeal from Wikimedia editor _____.

”

A letter from an editor would create a personal connection between the users of the website and those who create the site.

Can you write a personal appeal that is as, or more, effective than the letter Jimmy writes each year? We want to tell people who is behind the resource they value so much, our commitment to staying independent and ad-free, why we need funding, and why you support and create Wikipedia.

I'd be willing to try and write some appeals, so long as my doing so would actually be useful and likely to result in a testable banner. If we're at a state where the shortage of 'editor appeals banners' is simply not enough editors writing appeals, please contact me on my en.wp talk page and i'll make sure to try my hand at it. --Alecmconroy 16:59, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

You know about it already since I sent an email a few weeks ago, but here's the wiki version for reference: User:guillom/Puzzly appeal. With pretty mockups and everything. guillom 19:40, 30 December 2010 (UTC)